I actually think that if you put a cattle prod to my backside I’d admit that I hate the Cardinals more than The Art Dealers. Hating the ‘Artists is ingrained into my DNA. But that hatred has sustained itself mostly because of DNA, not recent history. For me, I hate players like Ron Cey, Don Sutton, Steve Garvey, Steve Sax, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Mickey Hatcher (yes, hated him), Orel GoFuckYourself, etc….. Even hearing the name “Ken Landreaux” pisses me off…..

But hearing the name “Steve Finley” doesn’t make my blood boil. It should, it just doesn’t. Same goes for *Adrian Gonzalez*. Or “Puig”. But I have quietly enjoyed his 0-10 with 6k’s this series…..

The St Louis Cardinals? That hate is real. It’s earned. The video of Will the Thrill getting blind sided by Ozzie Smith and Jose Oquendo (starting with a pussy short kick to the gut and a slap to the head and ending with wild hay maker misses) is the reason I will always love Candy Maldonado and his teammates more than the back of their baseball cards could ever make me love them….And I have actively talked shit to Jose Oquendo every single time I’ve seen him at a game. And I will do so whenever I see that fuck in person.

And now the Art Dealers and the Cardinals are playing each other. No possible good outcome, right?.

Yet….one has surfaced. I l just found out that I love any team that is beating the Art Dealers. It’s been a million years since I’ve cared, they haven’t won the World Series since I was in high school. And then we won 2 in three. And now that their owners have decided to dabble in an expensive hobby, it’s time that I start paying attention to them again because none of us want to start seeing The Art Dealers hoist a World Series trophy any time soon or in any future.

Hey, they can admire those old, dusty ones all they want. But “flags fly forever” is a lot more powerful when they’re actually flying freely instead of being stuck to a flag pole with a bunch of gunked up chemical aftermath of 50 years of dense smog….That one counts as do their other ones, just not as much as our *two in 3*. Nothing is more important than the most recent. In anything.

So yeah, I am super stoked that those Cardinal jackasses just took a 2-0 lead on those Art Dealin’ Pussy Fucks……

Nice read flavor- I can’t stand either of those teams myself. I say fuckem both. For years I have believed the baseball Gods and the Cards were as thick-as thieves. And, I still believe it. Anyway, fuck the dodgers but I think its gonna take all 7

jeffrey loria, owner of the miami marlins, ex-owner of the montreal expos- and perhaps the most hated man in baseball. he is also a private art dealer, with a business in manhattan, i believe. to be honest i don’t recall how the link to the bums was established. general scuzziness?

I started calling them that because of their total disregard for fiscal responsibility– they operate more like “art dealers” than a profitable business that cares about overhead. I’m not saying that dealing art isn’t profitable. Just the whole scene–*priceless* works of art. Can’t put a value on it. That kind of stuff. I recognize it’s not a perfectly translated nickname for what the Dodgers are today. They don’t care about how much money they spend the same way an art collector might not care about what they spend on something. That’s closer to what I meant, lol.
So I guess I should be calling them *The Art Collectors*. “Those Who Deal in Art”? Whatever, they’re The Art Dealers to me

Yeah, as much as the Cards are galling, and I feel exactly the same way when I hear the name Okendo, and I begrudge the fact that the cards have been wildly successful these past 10-12 years, But I am happier that the Dogs are eating shit right now. LA just threw their 2 best pitchers at StL and lost both.

Still and all I’m an AL fan this year when it comes to the World Series. Just keep the Dogs out . . .

You tell ’em, Magnus! I want the Dodgers to look bad and lick their wounds over degrading losses for the next 10 years.

Plus, I don’t want to say this too loud, because some of my friends are Red Sox fans, but I am rooting FOR Detroit as much as AGAINST the Bosox. Between us girls, I’m tired of the whole Red Sox hype and precious mythology and all that crap. Enough already.

Some dude “Kokonutsed” me at my mechanic yesterday. I had my Giants hat on (for me, one side benefit of the Giants crap season is I feel much more comfy in my SFG gear now. Weird–I know) and he started in on me the second I hit the counter. Turns out, he has been a fan since ’65. He went on to say how he is torn about Lincecum (so am I), spent many dreary days at the Stick in the 70’s (do did I), and used to fear he’d die without ever seeing the Giants win it all (do did I). He also went on to say he used to live Sac-town (so did I) and has a son in SF (so did I). All of this came out within 5 minutes of him being in the same room as me. It was one of those weird dude moments where I felt like he was someone I could be good friends with, but what am I gonna do—ask him if he wants to get a cup of coffee or something? So I just let it go as his car was done and he was soon out the door. Oh yeah, he also mentioned he gets up around 5 every day whether he is working or not. Another thing I have in common with him. (I think this is another of the traits Flav and I have in common as well)

A big deal down here in SD is a beach softball game called Over The Line–or OTL for short. I used to play some as it is a fun social beach drinking game. They have a huge world tourney down here every year and it is known for real raunchy team games. There are 3 guys on each team. I think Flav has inspired me to get a team together for next year. The team name would be: “Three Corpses Getting Skull Fucked by a Group of Necrophiliacs”
I’m only half joking on that. That team name would absolutely kill on Fiesta Island.

Finally, I like Cal and USC is the only sports team in all of SoCal I like. Though I’m down with Flav on the dislike of the NFL and MLB teams listed. Broncs were much easier to hate in the Elway/Shanahan years though IMO.

FuckinA, how amped am I that SanDawg turns my nom de web into a fecking verb! That is a story I can totally relate to! But it so rare to hear from the one being ambushed as an SFG fan. Totally love it.

I’ve been “busy” lately (oh, let me yellya), so I’ve been a bit absent here, but I just commented on the “Three Corpses…” (TCGSKBAGON) tag by Magnus on his earlier thread. I honestly and sincerely laughed OUT LOUD when I read it as a possible team name.

The beautiful thing is that your 9:42 hadn’t popped up yet when I started working on mine and I was thinking you hadn’t posted much recently and I was hoping you’d see mine as I knew you’d be amused. (forgive the run-on sentence PK)

Well, Dawg, that’s what makes Flapper connections so spiritually driven. And I don’t think I am mistaken, but your sentence is NOT a run-on and is grammatically perfect. You can throw some commas in there, if you like, but it is NOT a run-on sentence. It is a common perception that a sentence that goes “on and on” is a run-on sentence. Not true. (A run-on sentence is….oh, fuckme. Google it.) But many famous writers, Proust, for example, have sentences a page long, or more, and not a run-on sentence to be found.

well, there’s really nothing that makes, say, nick punto or andre ethier different from tony abreu and brandon crawford other than nick and andre are dodgers. reggie smith came into the stands and fought with ‘us’- but he was welcomed here as soon as he became a giant. i know this- and if anyone still ‘hated’ him-they did it in private, it was never demonstrated at the ballpark. my point- i don’t really believe that giants’ fans hate the dodger players, and i won’t believe it no matter often it’s said- because i don’t believe any reasonable person could possibly feel that way. it’s, how would i say it, ‘dodger-dom’ that we hate- and ‘dodger-dom’ means a way of life south of santa barbara that we associate with being a dodger. as craig just said- ownership that can have anything they want…going back to my 70’s days here- ‘dodger-dom’ was cocaine and carpeted garages…giant-dom was weed and vw’s .
so who am i rooting for in this series- neither team. in a series like this, i root for players. uribe and the beard- because they’re not dodgers as much as former giants. kershaw. punto. ethier. bengie’s brother.john jay.mujica… i like some star players but i’m more sympatico with the ishikawa’s, the puntos, the dirrrrrrrrrrrrrty’s, the vogt’s… i still remember johnny callison- a fine player, but over shadowed by the the great outfielders of his time. when he hit a walkoff hr to win the ’64 all-star game, he was greeted at home plate by, among others, clemente and mays- and as much as i loved roberto and admired mays- that day when callison was the brightest star in the baseball universe was the epitome of why i love this game- a game where steven vogt’s star can shine as brightly as that of miggy cabrera’s -if only for moment.
so, no, i don’t hate the dodgers. there was a funny thing that happened one year when the lakers weren’t going well. and i saw nicholson’s usual courtside spot was empty at the laker’s games. you know where he was- at the clipper’s games. courtside. and that’s kind of what i think we hate about ‘dodger-dom’ and ‘laker-dom’- it’s the ‘whatever-ness’ of los angeles. bad year for the dodgers? hey- ‘whatever’…

Well said, and all very reasonable, Twin. I watched part of the game Friday and found myself talking to the TV, in juvenile fashion, saying I hate this or that Dodger, I hate the Dodgers, and so on. Maybe I felt I had to prove my street cred or fan cred to Yankee Stadium Game Mystery Woman (YSGMW). BUT, BUT…when Juan Uribe got up Friday, I blurted out, “But I like him. I like him. We couldn’t have done it without him in 2010.” Got the Finnerty’s shirts from the game. AWESOME. I need to find a way to post pictures. I gave one to YSGMW, a Yankees fan who respectfully wore orange at the YS game. BTW, we were driving around yesterday and ended up at DeRuyter Lake and saw author and Yanks lover Hart Seely and his wife. Hart reminded me the Giants put the nails in the coffin of the NYY season when we beat them on Mariano Rivera day. I shed no tears.

thank you. and i know that some may not understand i’m saying, and it’s really hard to capture it. i certainly don’t intend to ruin the fun of good ole dodger hatin’- i guess that i hope it’s more ‘fun’ hatred that any of the real thing.

It’s true that since the Giants and Dodgers moved to the west coast, the Giants/Dodgers rivalry is a bigger deal to Giants fans. The Dodgers had early success on the west coast, and Giants fan-frustration set in big-time. In fact, Dodger lack of interest in the rivalry was an irritating thing itself, treating the Giants as not worthy of worrying about. Over the years, many a Dodger fan reminded me that the Giants had not won a World Series since coming to San Francisco, implying that the Giants were in some way not legitimate, and I guess, implying, that we Giants fans were a bit mentally deficient in some way for being Giants fans. I remember a Dodger fan, in the 1980s, giving me a big speech about how the Dodgers’ blue and white uniforms were so superior to black and orange. Sure, I would debate that kind of thing with Dodger fans; but, ultimately, they had the rings, and we didn’t.
But that all changed in 2010 and 2012.
And 2013 is too soon for the Dodgers to be answering back. I’m not opposed to the Dodgers winning the World Series again someday, but not too soon. 🙂

it doesn’t surprise me that the rivalry is a bigger deal up here. i don’t know this, but i suspect that la has more casual fans than any other team. check out the playoffs tomorrow- they go berserk over 4 hoppers to the second baseman. so it’s not terrribly surprising that the rivalry is not a big deal down there.

With Snarkk,Z,..
The Dodgers ever winning a W/S again would make me “PUKE”
If a major earthquake only split apart all of the land from Magic Mountain,all of The GrapevineChavez Latrine,down to Disneyland and washed it all to the Pacfic Ocean ,then I would be a happy camper.
Screw LA!!!!!!!!!!!

A classic example of the difference between the NL and AL yesterday. Both games were 1-0. The NL game clocked in at 2 hours & 40 minutes, and the AL game at 3 hours & 50 minutes. Yeah, the AL game had a few more hits, but still, a ridiculous difference in time. Sheesh, the AL game had a no-hitter going into the 9th. The AL games do drag. The pitchers doink around more on the mound, the batters take longer to re-set in the batter’s box. It adds up.

I was talking to a Yankee fan over the weekend, and was asked how disappointed I was feeling about the Giants not being in the playoffs. I answered that, actually, I think the emotion most Giants fans were feeling at the end of the 2013 season was relief. Relief that the season was over. 2013 ended up being such a struggle for the Giants, it was like watching a bird with hopelessly damaged wings trying to fly. At some point, the season needed to be put out of its misery.
And hopefully, rest and re-focus, and a few roster changes, will re-energize the team for a run in 2014.

i thought that the players showed us real hope for 2014 by the way they played to finish the season.i don’t believe that that was because they were out of it- i think they showed the pride that competitors have even when things have not gone as they hoped. i don’t know what most fans felt as the season ended, i can only guess and my guess is that most fans were ready for 2014 to begin-yesterday.

well, as much as i enjoy and respect the commenters here, i don’t think the size sample is sufficient, zumiee.and we all tend to think that the fans we know represent what ‘most’ fans think. we’re probably both wrong in that there’s no such animal as a ‘typical’ fan and we cannot possibly know what the majority of an incredibly diverse group view the season and the game in general. imo.

and no doubt i do view the game differently than many- here and elsewhere. in one respect i still view it as i did as boy and yet i can’t escape the passage of time. as a young man i played the game and winter was torture, as was wind. rain, sleet, lightning- anything that kept me away from the field. now i can only follow the game and yet in a different way, i miss it when it goes away- no season is misery for me. a poor one makes me yearn for the next one- a great one- well, it also makes me yearn for the next one. you and i are a perfect example of how fans differ in how they perceive the game they love.

I’m a big fan of seasons and cycles. All the sports need a respite from the daily/weekly competition of a long season. The only reason baseball expanded its playoffs is to make more money. The NFL owners want to expand to 18 regular season games and/or yet another playoff layer. Too much cheapens the product, degrades the appreciation. A total 5 tumblers of Scotch isn’t necessarily better than 2 — at one sitting anyway, IMO…

the day when pitchers and catchers report, the cut down days, when the teams head north, the all-star break, trade deadline- the post season, the hot stove league, no one respects the cycles of the games and the seasons more than i. my ‘wish’ for the new season to begin ‘yesterday’, it’s just a way to express that i don’t feel ‘relief’ that a poor season has ended, i feel eagerness for the new one- just as i have for decades. and i’m not alone.

I think Snarkk is right about cycles, and not just about baseball. All the major sports play too many regular season games, and because they have all expanded (hockey in florida, texas and Tennessee?) so much, playoffs last way too long too. As far as this post season, I haven’t watched one inning and don’t plan to
I dunno how *fans* feel, but as a b-ball coach by end of a season I need a break and I think the kids do too, from me and the sport.
Sure if you are doing well you always want to keep going, but unfortunately so many kids today only play one sport dang near year round. I don’t think that is at all healthy for mind or body.

Totally agree WillieD. Too much emphasis too early on one sport for kids. If your kid is good in one thing, now it’s play/practice all year long, club teams, regional competitions, weekends upon weekends spent doing nothing but that sport and traveling to and from. I like the well rounded kid that has aptitude for and interest in several different sports, then turns maybe to one or two later on…

Great piece Flav, I was going to ask if anyone felt sorry for Kershaw or Wainright?? you pretty much answered that question. Yeah, no love lost on either of these teams. Have to choose the lesser of two evils I quess. For me the Dodgers for obvious reasons top the list of hated teams. But #2 is the A’s, all started in the 70’s with their swagger and those stupid handle bar mustaches. So when the A’s and the Dodgers played in the WS I had absolutely no interest in that Series. I was in baseball hell. So if the Da Bums get swept and I lose the computer contest, no big deal. they will be gone. I am rooting for Detroit all the way.